Need real time help on bus fuel tank

Ace · June 19, 2015, 12:01:15 PM

Like I said if you were here I got a guy that could either fix your tank, or build you a new one from scratch. Very very reasonable too! He's not going anywhere soon so if you ever get back this way and need it done, you know how to reach someone you can trust!

Scott & Heather · June 19, 2015, 12:45:41 PM

Thanks ace. Good to know. You've pointed me in good places before so I'll keep this in mond

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blue_goose · June 19, 2015, 01:21:00 PM

I talked with a friend that has a MCI 7 and from what we can see most all the MCI tanks are the same. I know the MCI 12 that I scraped had a tank that looked just like the one in my 102C3. If they are the same you should be able to get a used one for a good price. Lots of old buses going to the salvage yard.
Jack

Scott Crosby · June 19, 2015, 01:51:15 PM

The sell a liquid membrane diesel tank sealer kit. If you follow the directions for cleaning and prep it works great. Probably get another 5-10 years out of that tank with it.

luvrbus · June 19, 2015, 01:58:58 PM

The tanks look a lot a like but I think the capacity is different my MCI 8 was a 144 gals and the D holds 187 gals since I removed the auxiliary which was 35 gals.Anyone need or want a auxiliary tank for a MCI you pick it up for free with straps and the pipes

Scott & Heather · June 19, 2015, 05:50:51 PM

someone posted recently that they were looking for one. I have no desire to take up bay space again for that thing. Not worth it. Our 9 has one and I hate it. My 102C3 has a 156 gallon capacity. Plenty for me....i've heard the sealing kit starts to flake and cause major issues...

muldoonman · June 19, 2015, 06:54:25 PM

On tig running over area (seams) will boil impurities out of weld. Brush off do it again. Pros will know how and get her done. Just don't linger on any area with mucho heat. It will crater though. Glad you've got it heading your way.

Scott & Heather · June 20, 2015, 07:22:05 PM

Ok. Didn't know they could tig with diesel residue still in the tank....makes sense

here's the latest. Tomorrow the tank gets leakdown test and goes back in the bus.

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muldoonman · June 20, 2015, 07:51:41 PM

Steam tank first before tiging. Looks like that jb weld got you fixed. That stuff didn't work on a gas tank a freind of mine tried to patch out in the boonies on a offroad jeep. Good luck.

eagle19952 · June 20, 2015, 08:00:59 PM

it will be almost impossible to repair by weldment now... $:-\$

hope she holds.

Scott & Heather · June 21, 2015, 05:38:40 AM

Eagle, lol, I can grind off that JB. Done it before. This tank is the pits. Has issues all over so my modus operandi here is to just get the bus home. Most probably don't understand what I'm doing so here's a quick scoop:

Wife and I are music touring in Texas living full time aboard our converted MCI 9. We will be in Texas at least until December. She's preggo with our first which will be born in October. Find this nice 102C3 partially converted with roof raise, caps, and a ton of other stuff (DD rebuilt kit in luggage bays etc) on Dallas Craigslist. Buy it. Now we have two buses and no time to convert new one this year. So we are driving it home to michigan in a week where it will be stored safely until we come home next summer and begin the conversion. We will only have the summers to convert it so the conversion could take 2-3 years. So, I don't have any desire to throw $1200 at a fuel tank with a baby on the way and $1100 in fuel to get to Michigan and back etc etc when the coach will sit for the next three years. So, JB weld it is. I'm taking cliffs advice and others here and going to have a stainless tank built custom and then I'll never worry about it again

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eagle19952 · June 21, 2015, 12:07:55 PM

AT some things I am a pessimistic optimist

SO maybe that frosting job will last a lifetime

Here's hoping...

We bought a Massey Ferguson tractot backhoe once that had sunk in the ocean when a barge sank.
Salvage company raised the barge
the enclosed drive shaft tube casting (for lack of exact terminology) was cracked...
we drilled it, tapped it and plated it, (never welded it)..

Bedded the plating with JB weld or MarineTex....

Gold mined in Alaska with it for 4-5 years...then moved it to a homestead in NE washington where it still works today...almost a 40 year repair... bought the loader backhoe for 1/2 penny a pound. it was brand new.

were I you I'd find an old scrap of gravel plant type conveyor belt and sit your tank on it..

Scott & Heather · June 21, 2015, 12:58:44 PM

smart thought on the conveyer belt material. Tank is on a piece of ply wood right now. I rinsed the bottom of the tank and the plywood thoroughly before putting tank back in. All is back together, nary a drop of diesel leaking...so far so good. Again, I just need to get it home Sunday...

Charles in SC · June 21, 2015, 05:10:39 PM

If I was fixing that tank I would cut out an area about an inch larger than the previous patched and welded place. This would make it possible to reach inside the tank and clean the area inside and out to weld a new patch on as well as get rid of the old carpy patch job. There is nothing wrong with a mig welder for aluminum. Any way you weld it it needs to be very clean.

Charles in SC · June 22, 2015, 05:21:59 PM

A couple of other thoughts, I built my holding tanks out of aluminum and welded them up with a cheap wire welder. I will knock on wood, they are still working fine since 2000. When I installed them I bought a rubber mat from Tractor Supply that was made to go in a horse stall. I cut it to the sizes I needed and put them under my tanks. I think that might work good under your fuel tank.